By: Jonathan Burgos
Jersey parents have been charged with the murder of a four-year-old boy, after the young victim’s brutal death in Somerset County.
Chamyr Harris, 26, of Linden, was taken into custody on Monday — nearly a week after the arrest of 36-year-old Woodbridge resident Sean Tate. After one year ago was ruled to be a homicide.
The preschool boy was rushed to a local hospital from a Franklin Township hotel on Feb. 19, 2024.
Harris, Tate and six other children were within the Homewood Suites hotel room when first responders arrived to take their sibling for emergency care.
The child was pronounced dead two hours later. Medical personnel at the hospital immediately saw that the victim was “emaciated,” weighing just 24 pounds. That is lower than the average weight for a 4-year-old, based on CDC growth charts.
Medical examiner later confirmed that the child had “suffered from extreme weight loss and muscle wasting,” with internal injuries.
The boy had suffered numerous head injuries, the examiner ultimately found, with wounds both fresh and old to his face, neck, torso and arms and legs.
His mouth also showed injuries consistent with smothering, the autopsy found.
They were also charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.
Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office has thanked police in Woodbridge and Linden, as well as FBI agents from the Newark field office, for their due diligence in the investigation.